Noblessner Quarter vision (Noblessner Kvartali ideelahendus), 2015

Noblessner Quarter is one of the last waterfront in Tallinn which is still under development. The quarter sits on the former Noblessner Shipyard which was built prior to the World War I. After owning its own small yacht harbour in 2009, the quarter started improve by renovating old factory buildings for enterprises as well as accommodating cultural events. Now it foresees the full-scale living function.

Noblessner Quarter is one of the last waterfront in Tallinn which is still under development. The quarter sits on the former Noblessner Shipyard which was built prior to the World War I. After owning its own small yacht harbour in 2009, the quarter started improve by renovating old factory buildings for enterprises as well as accommodating cultural events. Now it foresees the full-scale living function.

The proposal supports the maximum possibility of being in direct contact with active street life. The apartment buildings are proportioned not to overwhelm the people by sizes but at the same time to protect against the prevailing sea breeze. Different materials and construction methods are used for each building’s facades to create unique characters. We thought to find logical transition of materials in order to create rich built environment, by not through “copy-paste“, which often imitate small building scales.

Salutaguse Manor Field (Salutaguse Mõisamaa visioon), 2015-

The area is located in Kohila, Rapla County, about 29 km away from Tallinn, the Salutaguse Manor Fields development with its 219 hectares surrounds the former estate of the Salutaguse Manor house, dating back to 1872. It envisions to become a new centre accommodates a kindergarten, a nursery, a medical service facility as well as a micro brewery, distillery and gastro entertainment in the centre of the complex at the heart of the historic manor concourse. The field also includes offices and light industrial areas regarding the existing yeast factory.

The area is located in Kohila, Rapla County, about 29 km away from Tallinn, the Salutaguse Manor Fields development with its 219 hectares surrounds the former estate of the Salutaguse Manor house, dating back to 1872. It envisions to become a new centre accommodates a kindergarten, a nursery, a medical service facility as well as a micro brewery, distillery and gastro entertainment in the centre of the complex at the heart of the historic manor concourse. The field also includes offices and light industrial areas regarding the existing yeast factory.

The competition called for an vision to initiate the long-term process. The zones are divided into 5 zones; the central zone around the manor house, residential zone with apartment buildings, row houses, private houses, educational zone with a school and a kindergarten, green area and industrial area.

Thinking the potential residents’ profile, we believe that key for the development success is a creation of centre zone which differs from typical suburban developments. Character of the residential buildings shall support to create a strong image of the place.

The main theme for the 2015 Milan Expo is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”, embracing technology, innovation, culture, traditions and creativity and how they relate to food and diet.

Our competition entry’s name was “SEENEVAIKUS (mashroom silence)”. We tried to create simple but strong visual identity in order not to sunk into amount of information in the Expo. Instead of introducing Estonia via video projections and series of posters, we would like to provide spatial and tactile experience.

The main theme for the 2015 Milan Expo is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”, embracing technology, innovation, culture, traditions and creativity and how they relate to food and diet.

Our competition entry’s name was “SEENEVAIKUS (mashroom silence)”. We tried to create simple but strong visual identity in order not to sunk into amount of information in the Expo. Instead of introducing Estonia via video projections and series of posters, we would like to provide spatial and tactile experience.

Foraging
Estonia is a micro-country and Seenevaikus videocould do well if it would therefore direct the attention to smaller alternative solutions which help to optimize the global resource circulation. One such alternative is traditional food-gathering – the ability and habit to turn towards nature and gather food yourself.
A peculiar set of statistics can be pointed out here – while Estonia ranks next to Taiwan in the Human Development Index and the literacy rate is one of the highest in the world, it is estimated that up to half of the population can be considered food-gatherers. At the same time the habit of mushroom or berry picking is waning in the West – even in those societies, which could be proud of their vast untouched nature (such as the Scandinavian countries).
Foraging is a way of motivating and actively involving people – to give them an incentive to go into the nature. This is especially important considering the recent developments in our social life (think in terms of IT for example).

Silence
It does not matter whether we take the highly competitive World Expo or the daily life as a metric – silence is still a very valuable and scarce resource. Information can bought or consumed for free but the act of ‘buying’ silence is becoming rather tricky – one cannot simply pay an orchestra to stop them playing (as the show must go on).
Our exposition is deemed to show Estonia as a place where one could still easily enjoy silence. Over 50% of the total area of Estonia is covered with virtually untouched forests. The inhabitants can still remember that the forest acts as a food provider, and every second person has tried food-gathering himself.

Opening Up
The exposed pavilion area is open in a way which makes the entrance intuitive – one does not have to make a conscious decision to enter (especially considering the other pavilions filled with an abundance of information). Taking into account the fact that Estonia is a little known country with a limited budget, it would be rather complicated to erect a closed pavilion, which would be inviting enough in the given context.
On the other hand, our pavilion reinforces Estonia as a hospitable, inviting and open country. The good sides of the country can be experienced just as easily as the pavilion itself.

The church complex is planned to be in Mustamäe district in Tallinn, surrounded by 5 to 9-storey apartment blocks from the 60s and 70s. The complex is to accommodate kindergarten and support facility for the youth.

The church complex is planned to be in Mustamäe district in Tallinn, surrounded by 5 to 9-storey apartment blocks from the 60s and 70s. The complex is to accommodate kindergarten and support facility for the youth.

We found the most of the public area in the district have self-organized pedestrian paths which is diagonal to the basic street patterns and placement of the block of flats. The complex is placed so as to fit to this secondary geometry of the area. The programme is divided into 3 functional groups (church hall, church office, kindergarten + youth support) and given own volumes, mediated by the glass-roofed atrium.

The empty plots from past decades in the up and coming Kalamaja district in Tallinn have been getting filled. The district with mixture of 1 to 2-storey wooden apartment building along with stone buildings of small factories has been popular area to move in among bohemians and young families.

The brief was to fit two volumes (an apartment building and a private house) into the corner site. Our idea was to enjoy archaic and primitive building silhouette accentuated by window placement.

The empty plots from past decades in the up and coming Kalamaja district in Tallinn have been getting filled. The district with mixture of 1 to 2-storey wooden apartment building along with stone buildings of small factories has been popular area to move in among bohemians and young families.

The brief was to fit two volumes (an apartment building and a private house) into the corner site. Our idea was to enjoy archaic and primitive building silhouette accentuated by window placement.

The complex shares underground parking and pocket park at the street corner. The private house is designed with own yard as an extention from the living room and sauna.

The site is located in Tartu at the boader of the city centre and Supilinn neighbourhood. We were asked to harmonize with the surrounding atmosphere.

The location enables the building to bridge between two neigbourhoods. The centre is characterized by 3 to 5-storey stone buildings and the Supilinn neighbourhood is by 1 to 2-storey wooden apartment buildings.

The site is located in Tartu at the border of the city centre and Supilinn neighbourhood. We were asked to harmonize with the surrounding atmosphere.

The location enables the building to bridge between two neigbourhoods. The centre is characterized by 3 to 5-storey stone buildings and the Supilinn neighbourhood is by 1 to 2-storey wooden apartment buildings.

The street-side volumes are designed according to the adjacent buildings with pitched-roof and the in-between block is to create cozy courtyard protected from the traffic noise.

The discreet volume of the building is accentuated by balconies and roof articulation.

The former Tivoli area lies between the Tallinn harbour and a historical residential area Kadriorg. The artificial land by landfill from the 1930s has foreseen an extension of a major by-pass around the city. The area has been one of the strategic areas for development of Tallinn, so was chosen as a site for an architectural competition Europan 6 in 2007. The winning proposal was further developed into a detail planning by Rein Murula AB, which was approved in 2008.

The former Tivoli area lies between the Tallinn harbour and a historical residential area Kadriorg. The artificial land by landfill from the 1930s has foreseen an extension of a major by-pass around the city. The area has been one of the strategic areas for development of Tallinn, so was chosen as a site for an architectural competition Europan 6 in 2007. The winning proposal was further developed into a detail planning by Rein Murula AB, which was approved in 2008. Thanks to the approved planning, zigzag shape building area and volume as well as extent of glass-covered balconies were tightly defined. At least 3 competitions were held and we were eventually selected to implement the project.

We thought this location needs city centre atmosphere within natural environment close to the forest and the sea. Also we felt the given building envelope still missed human scale. By breaking up the volume of cantilevered balconies with colours and materials, we tried to achieve varied articulation to bring a new dimension. Incorporation of landscape elements among existing trees and plants helped to strengthen the park-like feeling between the buildings, which was to be offered to the public.

Estonian Academy of Arts (Eesti Kunstiakadeemia), 2008

The Estonian Academy of Arts, founded in 1914, was the first art school providing general education and preparation for speciality in arts and crafts in Estonia. Since the Academy has existed in the same location at the beginning of Tartu Road it’s entire history, we consider important not to erase its past and preserve the original building as a link to the school’s long and colourful history. The new building is designed inside out: the inner structure of the departments guides the overall form of the building. The building is divided into zones for each department, though zones are again connected to each other by the atrium (“street”), also by vertical transportations and rooms for general use. The atrium and the glazed deep cuts on the Gonsiori Street side do not only provide rooms with extra light, but also give an insight into the rhythm of life of each department and create a visual contact in-between.

The Estonian Academy of Arts, founded in 1914, was the first art school providing general education and preparation for speciality in arts and crafts in Estonia. Since the Academy has existed in the same location at the beginning of Tartu Road it’s entire history, we consider important not to erase its past and preserve the original building as a link to the school’s long and colourful history. The new building is designed inside out: the inner structure of the departments guides the overall form of the building. The building is divided into zones for each department, though zones are again connected to each other by the atrium (“street”), also by vertical transportations and rooms for general use. The atrium and the glazed deep cuts on the Gonsiori Street side do not only provide rooms with extra light, but also give an insight into the rhythm of life of each department and create a visual contact in-between.

A marketing company in Tallinn (Turundusbüroo Tallinnas), 2013

We were asked to make a proposal for a marketing company’s new face. We searched from their history to recent campaigns, and filtered out what is essential. Our answer was to organize the primary elements within the office and to create spatial experience enhancing their time spent at work.

We were asked to make a proposal for a marketing company’s new face. We searched from their history to recent campaigns, and filtered out what is essential. Our answer was to organize the primary elements within the office and to create spatial experience enhancing their time spent at work.
The main feature is an antique kitchen at the centre for socialising, surrounded by cabinets. The open area is combined with several zones which are to provide spaces and niches for different occasions and modes, which they lack at the moment. At the end of the office is designed with a series of seating platforms which can accommodate meetings as well as provide a spacious room for relaxation. The platforms float through entire office combining practical and aesthetic values.

Riga Passenger Terminal (Riia Reisijate Terminal), 2012

Urban planning concept
The planning of the area is based on organisation of logistics, while creating open public spaces with different qualities.

The connection between Andrejdambis and the city in the south direction is handled as a continuous urban park “promenade” on the raised +6.00 level, with smooth connections with other levels both up and down, via ramps and stairs.

Plaza at Andrejosta Bay at the south end is main meeting point of the area, a market place and picnic ground along the hustle of terminal passengers and vehicles moving both on water and on ground.

Urban planning concept
The planning of the area is based on organisation of logistics, while creating open public spaces with different qualities.

The connection between Andrejdambis and the city in the south direction is handled as a continuous urban park “promenade” on the raised +6.00 level, with smooth connections with other levels both up and down, via ramps and stairs.

Plaza at Andrejosta Bay at the south end is main meeting point of the area, a market place and picnic ground along the hustle of terminal passengers and vehicles moving both on water and on ground.

There are series of public spaces of different qualities and for different activities in the adjacent Daugava bank area. All the squares represent different functions and use, the character is easily distinguished with different materials, colours and structure: active square for sport games and open air theater/movie, quiet terraces, and park for youth including kids’ playground, street football and adventurous extreme sport.

Terminal building
The Terminal is a relatively simple volume 28m wide and 225 m long, conceived as an extension of the promenade. The simple volume is accentuated with series of stairs. The stair provides shelters from the strong wind, typical of water front, as well as viewing platforms towards the river, the yacht harbour and the Old town.

The roof is organized with long stripes of urban furniture and vegetation, which create wavy landscape of different heights for different purposes. The “strips” are mainly covered with timber cladding to accentuate the concrete roof of the slabs.

Hotel
The entrances to the hotel are both on ground floor +0.00 and pedestrian level +6.00. The 114 double rooms and 18 suites are organized around the central atrium. The north end of the building contains a restaurant, a kitchen, seminar rooms, beauty salon, saunas and sports facilities. Balconies on the south facade are overlooking the terminal roof landscape, Andrejosta Bay and Old town at the distance.

The brief asked for a new building for Estonian Film Museum, a storage, and design for courtyard in the existing Maarjamäe complex of Estonian History Museum. It is located on the hill overlooking the Tallinn Bay, having limestone cliff as a great background. Historically speaking, the complex used to produce sugar and spirit from the 19th century and later a manor house “castle” was added. Since 1987 the museum has been open in this location, additionally to a building in the Old Town. Due to this historical context the envelope and location of new building were prescribed strictly.

The brief asked for a new building for Estonian Film Museum, a storage, and design for courtyard in the existing Maarjamäe complex of Estonian History Museum. It is located on the hill overlooking the Tallinn Bay, having limestone cliff as a great background. Historically speaking, the complex used to produce sugar and spirit from the 19th century and later a manor house “castle” was added. Since 1987 the museum has been open in this location, additionally to a building in the Old Town. Due to this historical context the envelope and location of new building were prescribed strictly.

Our approach was to place required programmes in a row to define the edge of the territory to create quiet background. At the same time the entrance to the Film Museum was emphasized and the outer stage was given appropriate position.

The building, like history, appears grey and monotonous from far. As closer one gets to it, one discovers colourfully covered volume composed of mosaic tiles or photos. When looking into details, black and white films also conveys colourful life of old days very well. Life is not just grey. We tried to symbolize history as collection of small/mosaic incidents as well as contemporary life being pixelized/digitalized.

The extension is to inserted to the courtyard behind the beautiful main building of brick. It was quite a challenge to fit the required programme to the narrow courtyard with strict height/ volume limitation. The final proposal was a compact volume but intended also as a extension of the courtyard with help of glass facade. The materials were chosen to create quiet and complimentary background for the existing main building also to make the courtyard as a interior room.

The extension is to inserted to the courtyard behind the beautiful main building of brick. It was quite a challenge to fit the required programme to the narrow courtyard with strict height/ volume limitation. The final proposal was a compact volume but intended also as a extension of the courtyard with help of glass facade. The materials were chosen to create quiet and complimentary background for the existing main building also to make the courtyard as a interior room.

The site is situated at the premier location in Tartu, where all perimeters can enjoy views. The proposal is to bring in light and nature in a discrete manner, by cutting the building volume and creating pockets for “personalized” parks close to people at work. This cutting-in optimizes usable depth of building as well as produces several loosely separated zones within the same floor. Glass curtain wall surrounding these cut-ins contrasts to the horizontal ribbon windows in the main facade, which bounds exterior views as picture frames rather than show at full extent. Main facade refers to the existing stone retaining wall.

The site is situated at the premier location in Tartu, where all perimeters can enjoy views. The proposal is to bring in light and nature in a discrete manner, by cutting the building volume and creating pockets for “personalized” parks close to people at work. This cutting-in optimizes usable depth of building as well as produces several loosely separated zones within the same floor. Glass curtain wall surrounding these cut-ins contrasts to the horizontal ribbon windows in the main facade, which bounds exterior views as picture frames rather than show at full extent. Main facade refers to the existing stone retaining wall. The forest behind is quite a hidden place at the moment. The proposal is to provide a secondary entrance also to that side and a balcony for making the forest more accessible and friendlier. The ground floor is for up-scale retail with mezzanine floor, which receives soft light through the dry area on the forest side. Upper floors for offices have various floor area thanks to 3-dimensionally articulated cut-ins.

The site has been not-in- use for about a decade, firstly used as military storage since 19th century, later police station. The premire location, nearby the Old Town of Tallinn and at the begining of beautiful wooden house area, would need to accommodate 8 new apartment buildings in harmony with culturally important building of lime stone from the 19th century. Firstly decided was to bring the value of the lime stone storage building to the new ‘plaza’ defined by the corner building. The other apartment building were located and shaped to meet insolation requirement. The landscaping was intended to create community among residents as well as to protect their privacy.

The site has been not-in- use for about a decade, firstly used as military storage since 19th century, later police station. The premire location, nearby the Old Town of Tallinn and at the begining of beautiful wooden house area, would need to accommodate 8 new apartment buildings in harmony with culturally important building of lime stone from the 19th century. Firstly decided was to bring the value of the lime stone storage building to the new ‘plaza’ defined by the corner building. The other apartment building were located and shaped to meet insolation requirement. The landscaping was intended to create community among residents as well as to protect their privacy.

New School Building in Ruhnu Island (Koolimaja Ruhnus), 2008

The site is situated at the center of the Ruhnu island with 64 permanent residents, where exists the oldest wooden church in Estonia. The competition brief asked for a contemporary solution which fits and enjoys rich culture of traditional wooden buildings on the island. The existing school is accomodated in the former church in the next property but it will move into the new school in 2 or 3 stages. The proposal is composed of 3 volumes with different roof angles as well as tones of exterior finish and construction methods. The central volume is imagened to be a “lounge”, consisting the main entrance, open dining room and play room, teachers’ room.

The site is situated at the center of the Ruhnu island with 64 permanent residents, where exists the oldest wooden church in Estonia. The competition brief asked for a contemporary solution which fits and enjoys rich culture of traditional wooden buildings on the island. The existing school is accomodated in the former church in the next property but it will move into the new school in 2 or 3 stages. The proposal is composed of 3 volumes with different roof angles as well as tones of exterior finish and construction methods. The central volume is imagened to be a “lounge”, consisting the main entrance, open dining room and play room, teachers’ room.

Broadcasting in old days was one-way communication; input-edit-output to the public. Nowadays public can also output messages thanks to development in IT technology. Through the development the primacy of the “sender” has got weaken. Since this is a public building, not private, the it has advantage to be conceived as a common platform where the “receiver” can also access, participate, and view the process of the broadcasting.

Broadcasting in old days was one-way communication; input-edit-output to the public. Nowadays public can also output messages thanks to development in IT technology. Through the development the primacy of the “sender” has got weaken. Since this is a public building, not private, the it has advantage to be conceived as a common platform where the “receiver” can also access, participate, and view the process of the broadcasting. The new location allows the house to become an extension of park where people can walk through, stop by for a cup of coffee, and to give a quiet but inspiring background for everyday life. Our objective is to break up the immense programme into some sizable volumes: 3 studio blocks, an office block, and a base. The idea also is to symbolize loose independence between different departments and a common base as a uniting body. The glass boxes are to “transmit” light which is represented in primary colors of light; red, yellow, and blue.

Mahtra is a name of place and of manor, known among Estonians due to a historical event in 1858, the first uprising of Estonian farmers. The existing museum houses exhibitions on Mahtra war and folk culture in local area. The extention project is to commemorate life of peasants rather than war through calmness of all settings.

Mahtra is a name of place and of manor, known among Estonians due to a historical event in 1858, the first uprising of Estonian farmers. The existing museum houses exhibitions on Mahtra war and folk culture in local area. The extention project is to commemorate life of peasants rather than war through calmness of all settings. Visitors will reach the main entrance through the west-facing courtyard between the exisiting and the extention. The “Museum Park” across the street from the museum is to be landscaped with plants and flowers which related to farming and folklore. The playground on the south is for children to experience how children used to play in old days. The extention shall retain the existing volumetrical proportion to create harmony with the existing so as to become a united whole, as if it has stood there for a long time. The roof and the exterior wall throughout the building are covered with wooden plank with tar.

The site is located in the old town in Tartu along the street where offices and institutions. The approach was not only to fit the new volume into the historical context but also to add value to that in contemporary manner. The compact volume consisting of 8 apartments provides living space in split level, mostly opening to two directions; street side and courtyard side in order to maximize the opportunity to reside in the old town. The roof and facade are articulated with tall windows to create rhythm to the streetscape.

The site is located in the old town in Tartu along the street where offices and institutions. The approach was not only to fit the new volume into the historical context but also to add value to that in contemporary manner. The compact volume consisting of 8 apartments provides living space in split level, mostly opening to two directions; street side and courtyard side in order to maximize the opportunity to reside in the old town. The roof and facade are articulated with tall windows to create rhythm to the streetscape.

Rowing Boathouse, Viljandi (Viljandi Sõudeellingu hoone), 2007

The old town of Viljandi spreads over the hill overlooking the Viljandi Lake. The site is at thes bottom of the hill, directly onto the lake, next to the existing lifesaver’s watchtower, boat storage, and beach. The building was meant to be seen from the castle on top of the hill as well as from the lake. Competition brief called for a rowingboat storage, a workshop, and a viewing platform with economical solution. Our proposal was to evoke movement in form and to connect the building to the landscape. The roof segments with 2 slightly different curve are slid one after another to make slits letting natural light to come in daytime and artificial light to go out in the evenings. The viewing tower was designed as a separate sculptural object. The roof and the exterior wall are covered with wooden slats.

The old town of Viljandi spreads over the hill overlooking the Viljandi Lake. The site is at thes bottom of the hill, directly onto the lake, next to the existing lifesaver’s watchtower, boat storage, and beach. The building was meant to be seen from the castle on top of the hill as well as from the lake. Competition brief called for a rowingboat storage, a workshop, and a viewing platform with economical solution. Our proposal was to evoke movement in form and to connect the building to the landscape. The roof segments with 2 slightly different curve are slid one after another to make slits letting natural light to come in daytime and artificial light to go out in the evenings. The viewing tower was designed as a separate sculptural object. The roof and the exterior wall are covered with wooden slats.